Strelcha

Strelcha lies in a valley on the southern slopes of Sredna Gora, beside the Strelchanska Luda Yana. Above the river stood Strelchansko Kale, a fortified settlement that guarded this part of the mountain country from the ninth to the fourteenth century. A town known as Strelch or Strelets grew below the stronghold. Under Ottoman rule, sheep breeding was among the occupations of the inhabitants; men from Strelcha also appear in sixteenth-century Ottoman military registers.